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What Is a Critical Lens Essay?

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Four types of essays

Look back at your notes from the lens text, and read the focus text again with the lens text in mind. Use active reading skills such as writing questions in the margins and determining the purpose of each paragraph.

Here are a few questions to consider when analyzing the content of your focus text: How does the lens text serve to shed light on the second text? Does it criticize it or support it? If the two pieces were written during different periods in history, consider the era in which the lens was written and how it affects the opinions or points made in the second.

Consider the lives of the authors and how their differences might inform their writing. With your notes in hand, construct your thesis statement. Using details from the both texts as context clues, determine how the author of the lens text would view the assertions of the focal text. Construct this view as a statement that includes the details expounded upon in the body paragraphs of your essay.

At the same time, keep your thesis statement as clear and simple as you can. Your thesis statement is the roadmap to the rest of your paper. Its clarity and concision will help your reader understand what to expect.

A lens essay is typically constructed on a text-by-text basis. Concentrate on presenting the lens in the first paragraphs. In the following, present the second text as viewed through the lens. How do your points support the thesis? Make sure to include evidence for your assertions.

Restate your thesis first, then sum up the main points of your paper. Be sure to make what you have said meaningful. Don't let the paper fizzle out, but don't introduce new information either. Read over your work at least once, first paying attention to content and inconsistencies in your argument. Make additions and corrections, and then proofread your work.

Correct errors in style and grammar, and make sure your prose reads fluently. Many students choose to try and validate very opinionated points of view in these type of essays in an effort to leave a lasting impression on the reader, which some say is cliche but we have found that an honest opinion is always far more valued than trying to argue for something that you do not necessarily believe in. It is important to remember that when arguing for something you believe in it leaves more room for improvement since it interests you.

Do not hesitate to present an unpopular point of view simply because it is not that well known or appreciated, on the contrary, that leaves you with more room to explore the controversy behind this particular point of view.

Some of the best advice we have come across is trying to envision such exercises as looking through the lens of a camera or a pair of glasses. A quote is merely a tool allowing us to bring in a sharper focus on the themes that the writer chose to highlight and explore with us. Such assessments offer various paths to interpret, analyze, and dive deeper into the text. The essay writer is required to use two literary sources to portray the underlying themes denoted by the quote.

In essence, the essay makes use of quotations to analyze and explore works of literature. Generally, the contrasting quotes are given by the instructors. However, we have also encountered cases where the student was required to select the second literary source out of a list of different selections each offering different themes and comparisons.

In such cases, it is best to have a firm grip and understanding of the initial quote of the assignment thus giving you the option to create the most compelling argument possible. One cannot say that the two books are perfectly related, but due to their time settings and specific South American civil turmoil themes they often depict similar situations in which the protagonists and antagonists highlight important symbolisms in the lives of the locals.

Successfully arranging all these elements in your critical lens essay template will allow the audience to actively participate and learn controversial facts about the content being presented to them. The final sentence of each paragraph should sum up the idea brought across by the writer in that particular paragraph. It is always advisable to draft the ideas in a separate place to have a clear outline and structure of the paragraph within the body.

This helps the essay writer to organize the paper in such a way where the themes and elements are clearly structured in a logical manner. When doing so, you give your critical lens essay a smooth cursive flow that makes it much more enjoyable for the reader.

Your audience can then grasp the concepts much easier from your text as they progress and understand the intended point of view. The body should follow the introductory paragraph to avoid displaying any confusion to the reader. All the supporting elements should be explored within the body of the in a concise manner. Let us have a look together at a common example in order to try and provide you with a practical understanding of what we are trying to substantiate.

In essence, the author is trying to prepare us for the motions that we go through in life with its happy moments and sad moments. Generally, when someone is trying to bring this contrast into perspective, they want us to understand the joy we find in these ups and downs. If life were a constant of just good or bad, we would not be able to appreciate and separate the moments, which would leave us without many of the actual joys of being alive.

Simple terms should be used in the interpretation, where the writer passes on an explanatory version of the quote. In this example, the writer could use a simplified interpretation such as this: Life is full of bad moments and good moments.

Due to the multitude of linguistic alternatives, it is very similar to creating a painting, meaning that it is up to the painter to choose the correct colors for his or her canvas. Before you start to worry and ask yourself how to write a critical lens essay outline and what should its structure should look like, remember that most essays follow the same basic format but with minute alterations.

Like in many other types of essays, we will begin our analysis with an introductory paragraph. In this section, the writer states the quote, which can also be referred to as the critical lens statement. This should be stated and copied word for word always including the quotation marks in order to draw the reader's attention to it. The character or author of the quote should also be mentioned in the introduction. In the cases of anonymous authors, it is even more vital for it to be mentioned as well as this might be an indication that the specific quote at that time was considered taboo and perhaps it might still even be to this day.

The essay writer should then proceed to provide their personal analysis and interpretation on the quote. In essence whether or not they agree with it, their reaction to it when they encountered it as well as their understanding of its purpose in that particular era amongst many other things. Then they should explain the reason why they have chosen their particular standpoint towards the quote using well-structured sentences.

This section should offer the readers a clear understanding and explanation as to why this viewpoint was logical in this particular critical lens essay format. Finally, the author, title, and genre of the books intended to be used by the writer in the essay should be provided. This includes stating the literary elements that the books offer in connection to the quote, as well as a detailed explanation of their relationship in order to highlight and support the respective chosen sources.

The next stage is the body of the essay, which could contain about four or more paragraphs or be split up into segments depending on the number of literary elements that the writer intends to explore. This section of your critical lens essay should always provide a thesis statement paired with a detailed analysis of the elements in the literary works previously chosen by you stated in the previous paragraph. The writer should always use intricate examples correspondingly, that were extracted from the literary sources and use them in a creative way to display his understanding of the quote.

Doing this effectively allows the reader to begin creating the same connections and thought process when analyzing the themes, symbols or perhaps the context of said quote. Each paragraph within the main body of your critical lens essay should begin with a topic sentence. Always keep in mind that this is the first sentence of the paragraph and is intended to draw the attention of the reader as to what will be the main purpose of this paragraph.

It should always offer substantial information on the subject and try to cover all its aspects in the utmost of detail. Using new information about the subject in the conclusion is often looked down upon as it is considered that the essay writer did not cover it adequately in the body of their essay. An example of analysis should be similar to this: Michael, the protagonist of the play, is faced with a common conflict that confronts many people; the reasons behind his existence in this world.

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A critical lens essay is a type of literary analysis paper. In this case, you start with a quotation, which you view through a "critical lens." This viewing involves restating the quotation in your own words, thus interpreting it.

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Oct 18, · A critical lens essay is a type of essay where student’s ability to think critically and express their ideas in the written form is estimated. Generally, it requires three major skills: reading, critical thinking, and dommonet.tkon: N Cave Creek Rd, Phoenix,

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First of all, the process of writing a critical lens essay involves offering a response to the perspective presented in the given quote. Afterwards, you ought to attempt to give a justification for that viewpoint using your own words. In writing the critical lens essay, an in-depth exploration of the quote must be done within the context of the book from which the quote is derived. The primary goal is a critical lens essay is to assess a student’s skills in critical thinking.

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The critical lens essay format: how to write a great paper. The critical lens essay is the type of paper works where the student must show his ability to critical thinking in a written form. Its goal is to analyze the quotation from the literary work and state whether it . Any critical lens essay includes the following three steps: interpretation, analysis and explanation, which in turn test your ability to think, plan and write the essay in a cohesive manner using common literary terms.